--- name: "Sharon Maguire" canonical: "https://film.one/person/sharon-maguire" fi1m_id: "sharon-maguire" imdb_id: "nm0536632" tmdb_id: 9158 wikidata_id: "Q444638" roles: ["Director"] born: "28 November 1960" reviewed_on_fi1m: 2 average_fi1m_score: 76 average_as: "director" average_over: 2 updated: "2026-10-05T14:03:55.019738+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Sharon Maguire ## Identity Sharon Maguire - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/sharon-maguire - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** sharon-maguire - **IMDb ID:** nm0536632 - **TMDB ID:** 9158 - **Wikidata ID:** Q444638 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharon_Maguire, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q444638, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0536632/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/9158 Director. Born 28 November 1960 in Coventry, England, UK. ## Details - **Work:** Director - **Born:** 28 November 1960, Coventry, England, UK - **Active:** 2001–2016 - **Frequently works with:** [Colin Firth](https://film.one/person/colin-firth.md), [Eric Fellner](https://film.one/person/eric-fellner.md), [Gemma Jones](https://film.one/person/gemma-jones.md), [Helen Fielding](https://film.one/person/helen-fielding.md), [Jim Broadbent](https://film.one/person/jim-broadbent.md), [Renée Zellweger](https://film.one/person/renee-zellweger.md), [Tim Bevan](https://film.one/person/tim-bevan.md) - **Average Fi1m score:** 76, as director, over 2 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 2000s 80 (1), 2010s 71 (1) - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharon_Maguire, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q444638, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0536632/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/9158 ## Streaming the US now - **Hulu:** [*Bridget Jones's Diary*](https://film.one/film/bridget-joness-diary.md) (80), [*Bridget Jones's Baby*](https://film.one/film/bridget-joness-baby.md) (71) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Sharon Maguire > Sharon Maguire can make a heroine look foolish without asking us to stop liking her. We rate her comic timing and her faith in actors, though the writing can push the embarrassment further than it needs to. In *Bridget Jones's Diary* (2001), Bridget's confidence grows just long enough for Sharon Maguire to cut it short. The joke depends on how much time she gives Bridget to believe things might go well, and how quickly that hope is interrupted. This is what we value in her direction: she times the embarrassment carefully without forgetting why we care about the woman. Renée Zellweger's Bridget moved us more than we expected, because she understands her mistakes and still cannot reliably stop herself making them. Maguire came to that feature debut after documentaries and commercials, and her interest in believable behaviour suits an adaptation of Helen Fielding's novel. *Incendiary* (2008), which she directed and co-wrote, took her into drama. That move into serious material drew criticism for implausible plotting and melodrama. She returned to Bridget with *Bridget Jones's Baby* (2016), now following a fortysomething heroine. *Godmothered* (2020) took her towards family comedy and fairy-tale conventions, but the first Bridget remains our starting point for understanding what she does well. On *Bridget Jones's Diary*, editor Martin Walsh is a crucial partner: he and Maguire know when to stop a joke. They allow anticipation to grow, then make the cut sudden enough for Zellweger's response to carry the laugh. Hugh Grant supplies the mischief, while Zellweger makes the heroine's determination to improve herself worth taking seriously. We are less convinced by the passages that ask farce to become romantic tenderness. Patrick Doyle's music makes those changes gentler, but sometimes presses for a feeling the performances have already earned. Our enthusiasm for Maguire rests chiefly on how well she understands Bridget's attempts to improve herself. The reservation is how readily she lets a screenplay turn that struggle into another occasion for embarrassment. Zellweger makes Bridget worth spending time with before the jokes have done their work, so the extra insistence on her foolishness can feel unnecessary. Begin with *Bridget Jones's Diary*, provided a few awkward shifts of mood will not spoil a well-acted romantic comedy. ## Biography Sharon Maguire is an English film and television director. She is best known for directing the romantic comedy *Bridget Jones's Diary* (2001), based on the novel by her friend Helen Fielding, in which one of the characters is reportedly modelled on Maguire. She returned to the franchise to direct *Bridget Jones's Baby* (2016). Maguire began her career in television as a researcher and director on programmes including Channel 4's *The Media Show* and BBC's *The Late Show*. She directed documentaries for BBC series such as *Omnibus* and *Bookmark* before moving into commercials. *Bridget Jones's Diary* was her feature directorial debut. Her other films include *Incendiary* (2008), which she also wrote, *Godmothered* (2020) and the television film segment in *Call Me Crazy: A Five Film* (2013). In 2016 she co-founded the production company 7 Stories. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (2) - *Bridget Jones's Baby* (2016), Fi1m 71, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/bridget-joness-baby.md) - *Bridget Jones's Diary* (2001), Fi1m 80, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/bridget-joness-diary.md) ## Complete filmography (8) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Godmothered* (2020), Director - *Bridget Jones's Baby* (2016), Director — Fi1m 71, [page](https://film.one/film/bridget-joness-baby.md) - *Call Me Crazy: A Five Film* (2013), Director - *Incendiary* (2008), Writer, Director - *Bridget Jones's Diary* (2001), Director — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/bridget-joness-diary.md) - *Rumer Godden: An Indian Affair* (1995), Director, Producer - *Longbourn*, Director - *The Joy of Sex*, Director, Writer ## Awards ### Other awards — 0 won, 3 nominated - European Film Award – People's Choice Award for Best European Film 2017: European Film Award – People's Choice Award for Best European Film (nominated), for *Bridget Jones's Baby* - European Film Award for Best Film 2001: European Film Award for Best Film (nominated), for *Bridget Jones's Diary* - European Film Award - People's Choice Award for Best Director 2001: European Film Award - People's Choice Award for Best Director (nominated), for *Bridget Jones's Diary* *From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.* --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/sharon-maguire